Discovery BoxLamentations 1:22 
Contextת (Tav)
1:22 Let all their wickedness come before you;
afflict 1 them
just as you have afflicted 2 me 3
because of all my acts of rebellion. 4
For my groans are many,
and my heart is sick with sorrow. 5
Lamentations 2:3
Contextג (Gimel)
2:3 In fierce anger 6 he destroyed 7
the whole army 8 of Israel.
He withdrew his right hand 9
as the enemy attacked. 10
He was like a raging fire in the land of Jacob; 11
it consumed everything around it. 12
1 tn For the nuance “afflict” see the note at 1:12.
2 tn For the nuance “afflict” see the note at 1:12.
3 tn The parallel statements “afflict them” and “just as you have afflicted me” in the translation mirror the Hebrew wordplay between עוֹלֵל לָמוֹ (’olel lamo, “May you deal with them”) and עוֹלַלְתָּ לִי (’olalta li, “you dealt with me”).
4 tn Heb “all my rebellions,” that is, “all my rebellious acts.”
5 tn Heb “is sorrowful” or “is faint.” The adjective דַוָּי (davvay, “faint”) is used in reference to emotional sorrow (e.g., Isa 1:5; Lam 1:22; Jer 8:18). The cognate Aramaic term means “sorrow,” and the cognate Syriac term refers to “misery” (HALOT 216 s.v. *דְּוַי). The related Hebrew adjective דְּוַה (dÿvah) means “(physically) sick” and “(emotionally) sad,” while the related Hebrew verb דָּוָה (davah) means “to be sad” due to menstruation. The more literal English versions fail to bring out explicitly the nuance of emotional sorrow and create possible confusion whether the problem is simply loss of courage: “my heart is faint” (KJV, NKJV, RSV, NRSV, ASV, NASB, NIV). The more paraphrastic English versions explicate the emotional sorrow that this idiom connotes: “my heart is sick” (NJPS), “I am sick at heart” (TEV), and “I’ve lost all hope!” (CEV).
6 tc The MT reads אַף (’af, “anger”), while the ancient versions (LXX, Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate) reflect אַפּוֹ (’appo, “His anger”). The MT is the more difficult reading syntactically, while the ancient versions are probably smoothing out the text.
7 tn Heb “cut off, scattered.”
8 tn Heb “every horn of Israel.” The term “horn” (קֶרֶן, qeren) normally refers to the horn of a bull, one of the most powerful animals in ancient Israel. This term is often used figuratively as a symbol of strength, usually in reference to the military might of an army (Deut 33:17; 1 Sam 2:1, 10; 2 Sam 22:3; Pss 18:3; 75:11; 89:18, 25; 92:11; 112:9; 1 Chr 25:5; Jer 48:25; Lam 2:3, 17; Ezek 29:21) (BDB 901 s.v. 2), just as warriors are sometimes figuratively described as “bulls.” Cutting off the “horn” is a figurative expression for destroying warriors (Jer 48:25; Ps 75:10 [HT 11]).
9 tn Heb “he caused his right hand to turn back.” The implication in such contexts is that the
10 tn Heb “from the presence of the enemy.” This figurative expression refers to the approach of the attacking army.
11 tn Heb “he burned in Jacob like a flaming fire.”
12 tn Or “He burned against Jacob, like a raging fire consumes all around.”
